Methods and systems for concealing information

ABSTRACT

A retrieving system for retrieving information concealed within a sequence of symbols. The system includes a decoder configurable using rule information and operable when so configured to retrieve the information concealed within the sequence of symbols by applying to the sequence of symbols at least one decoder rule determined by the configuration of the encoder.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/390,251, filed Dec. 23, 2016, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/438,552, filed Apr. 24, 2015, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,536,098, issued Jan. 3, 2017, which is a National Phaseentry of PCT Application No. PCT/AU2013/001244, filed Oct. 25, 2013,which claims priority from Australian Application Number 2012904692,filed Oct. 25, 2012, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Disclosed herein is a method for concealing information, a method forretrieving concealed information, a concealing system for concealinginformation, and a retrieving system for retrieving concealedinformation.

BACKGROUND

Many types of encryption require at least one key to conceal andsubsequently retrieve information, for example digital information.There is a long felt need however, for a system that secures informationand that provides alternatives to existing key based encryption systems.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein is a method for concealing information comprising asequence of symbols. The method comprises the step of determining ruleinformation. The method comprises the step of using the rule informationso determined to configure an encoder operable when so configured toform concealed information by applying to the information comprising thesequence of symbols at least one encoder rule determined by theconfiguration of the encoder.

An embodiment of the method may enable personalized concealment ofinformation to, for example securely hold information in ‘the cloud’ andfor personalized concealed information transfer, for example, via theinternet.

The concealed information may take the form of, for example, an orderedgroup of symbols in which the sequence of symbols are distributed.

An embodiment comprises the step of operating the encoder on theinformation comprising the sequence of symbols to form the concealedinformation.

In an embodiment, the step of applying to the information at least oneencoder rule comprises the step of grouping symbols from the sequence ofsymbols into a plurality of groups of symbols and changing the sequenceof the plurality of groups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the step of grouping symbols comprises the step ofusing the rule information to determine a number of symbols in each ofthe plurality of groups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the step of using the rule information comprises thestep of operating on symbols of rule affecting information, to obtain aplurality of group size numbers indicative of the number of symbols ineach of the plurality of groups.

Generally, but not always, the rule affecting information may be asequence of bits. The rule affecting information generally but notnecessarily varies from one incident of concealment to another. Suchvariation may provide that the same information concealed with the samerule information and the same other rules as may be used, and providedifferent concealment. Rule affecting information may be pre-shared asinformation or as a rule for such information. For example, ruleaffecting information may be the fifth word of the tenth sentence of the5 o'clock evening news bulletin on a particular TV channel. Anotherexample of the rule affecting information may be the series of themaximum and minimum temperature of five specific cities for the day whenthe concealment is/was undertaken. The rule affecting information may beretrieved from an electronic source of rule affecting information. Anymathematical or logical rule or combination thereof may be used tocreate a rule for creating the rule affecting information. The use ofthe rule affecting information is optional. In an embodiment the ruleaffecting information is pre-shared, as a rule for the rule affectinginformation, between the concealing and the retrieving systems orbetween the encoder and the decoder.

In an embodiment the rule affecting information may be within the filesystem information of a file carrying the concealed information.

In general any suitable string of symbols may be arbitrarily generatedor used as the rule affecting information and it may have any arbitrarynumber and type of symbols suitable for use in concealing theinformation. Generally but not necessarily, a digital string of symbolsmay be used as the rule affecting information.

In an embodiment, the step of applying to the information comprising thesequence of symbols the at least one encoder rule comprises the step ofjoining a sequence of other symbols with the rule information.

In an embodiment, the step of joining together the rule information andthe concealed information comprises the step of disposing the ruleinformation within the other symbols.

In an embodiment, the step of applying to the information comprising thesequence of symbols at least one encoder rule comprises the step ofjoining the rule information and the concealed information to formtransmittable concealed information for subsequent transmission to adecoder operable to retrieve the rule information from the transmittableconcealed information, use the rule information to set at least onedecoder rule, and subsequently retrieve the information comprising thesequence of symbols from the transmittable concealed information usingthe at least one decoder rule.

An embodiment comprises the step of disposing the transmittableconcealed information in a file for subsequent transmission to thedecoder.

In an embodiment, the location of the rule information in the joinedrule information and the concealed information, is indicated by filesystem information of the file.

In an embodiment, the location of the rule information is indicated bylocation information external of the file.

In an embodiment, the location information is obtained using a UniformResource Locator (URL).

In an embodiment, the location information is obtained using logic.

In an embodiment, the location information comprises at least one oftime information and time derived information.

In an embodiment, the location information comprises informationderivable from the environment in which the decoder operates.

In an embodiment, the step of applying to the information at least oneencoder rule comprises at least one of providing, posting and placingrule information, and providing, posting, placing hints and/or cluesabout rule information for a decoder operable to retrieve the ruleinformation, to use the rule information to set at least one decoderrule, and subsequently retrieve the information from the concealedinformation using the at least one decoder rule.

In an embodiment, the logic comprises fuzzy logic.

In an embodiment, the step of determining rule information comprises thestep of a rule information determiner of a processor determining therule information, and wherein the step of using the rule information sodetermined to configure the encoder comprises the step of the processorusing the rule information so determined to configure the encoder.

In an embodiment, the processor comprises the encoder.

Disclosed herein is a method for retrieving information concealed withina sequence of symbols. The method comprises the step of determining ruleinformation. The method comprises the step of using the rule informationso determined to configure a decoder operable when so configured toretrieve the information concealed within the sequence of symbols byapplying to the sequence of symbols at least one decoder rule determinedby the configuration of the encoder.

An embodiment comprises the step of operating the decoder on thesequence of symbols to retrieve the information within the sequence ofsymbols.

In an embodiment, the step of applying the at least one decoder rulecomprises the step of grouping symbols from the sequence of symbols intoa plurality of groups of symbols and changing the sequence of theplurality of groups of symbols.

In an embodiment the step of using the rule information to determine anumber of symbols in each of the plurality of groups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the step of using the rule information comprises thestep of operating on symbols of rule affecting information, to obtain aplurality of group size numbers indicative of the number of symbols ineach of the plurality of groups.

An embodiment comprises the step of separating the plurality of groupsfrom a sequence of other symbols within the sequence of symbols.

In an embodiment the rule information is determined from the sequence ofsymbols.

In an embodiment, the location of the rule information in the sequenceof symbols, is indicated by file system information of the file.

In an embodiment, the location of the rule information in the sequenceof symbols is indicated by location information external of the file.

In an embodiment the location information is obtained using a UniformResource Locator (URL).

In an embodiment, the location information is obtained using logic.

In an embodiment, the location information comprises at least one oftime information and time derived information.

In an embodiment, the location information comprises informationderivable from the environment in which the decoder operates.

In an embodiment, the step of applying to the information at least onedecoder rule comprises at least one of obtaining rule informationprovided, posted or placed by the concealing system'. The step ofapplying to the information at least one decoder rule may comprise andobtaining hints and/or clues provided, posted or placed by theconcealing system about the rule information for a decoder operable toretrieve the rule information. The step of applying to the informationat least one decoder rule comprise using the rule information to set atleast one decoder rule. The step of applying to the information at leastone decoder rule may comprise subsequently retrieving the informationfrom the concealed information using the at least one decoder rule.

In an embodiment, the logic comprises fuzzy logic.

In an embodiment, the step of determining rule information comprises thestep of a rule information determiner of a processor determining therule information, and wherein the step of using the rule information sodetermined to configure the decoder comprises the step of the processorusing the rule information so determined to configure the decoder.

In an embodiment, the processor comprises the encoder.

Disclosed herein is a concealing system for concealing informationcomprising a sequence of symbols. The system comprises an encoderconfigurable using rule information and when so configured operable toform concealed information by applying to the information comprising thesequence of symbols at least one encoder rule defined by theconfiguration of the encoder.

In an embodiment, the encoder comprises a symbol grouping modulearranged to group symbols from the sequence of symbols into a pluralityof groups of symbols and changing the sequence of the plurality ofgroups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the symbol grouping module is arranged to use the ruleinformation to determine a number of symbols in each of the plurality ofgroups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the step of using the rule information comprises thestep of operating on symbols of the rule affecting information, toobtain a plurality of group size numbers indicative of the number ofsymbols in each of the plurality of groups.

In an embodiment, the joining module is arranged to put a sequence ofother symbols together with the information comprising a sequence ofsymbols.

In an embodiment, the joining module is arranged to dispose the ruleinformation within the other symbols.

An embodiment comprises a joining module arranged to join the ruleinformation and the concealed information to form transmittableconcealed information for subsequent transmission to a decoder operableto retrieve the rule information from the transmittable concealedinformation, use the rule information to set at least one decoder rule,and subsequently retrieve the information from the transmittableconcealed information using the at least one decoder rule. An embodimentcomprises a file module for disposing one or more of the transmittableconcealed information, the rule information and the rule affectinginformation in a file for subsequent transmission to and/or access bythe decoder.

In an embodiment, the file module is arranged to indicate the locationof the rule affecting information in file system information of thefile.

An embodiment a location information module arranged to obtain thelocation information indicative of the positions of at least one: therule information; the rule affecting information; and at least one ofthe position of a hint of the position of the rule information, and aclue of the position of the rule information.

In an embodiment, the location information module is arranged to use aUniform Resource Locator (URL) to obtain the location information.

In an embodiment, the location information module is arranged to obtainthe location information using logic.

In an embodiment, the location information module is arranged to derivethe location information from at least one of time information and timederived information.

In an embodiment, the location information module is arranged to derivethe location from the environment in which the decoder operates

An embodiment comprises a processor comprising the encoder andconfigured to configure the encoder using the rule information. Theprocessor may comprise a rule information determiner configured todetermine the rule information, and the encoder is configurable by theprocessor using the rule information so determined.

Disclosed herein is a retrieving system for retrieving informationconcealed within a sequence of symbols. The system comprises a decoderconfigurable using rule information and operable when so configured toretrieve the information concealed within the sequence of symbols byapplying to the Sequence of symbols at least one decoder rule determinedby the configuration of the encoder.

An embodiment comprises a grouping module arranged to group symbols fromthe sequence of symbols into a plurality of groups of symbols andchanging the sequence of the plurality of groups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the grouping module is arranged to use the ruleinformation to determine a number of symbols in each of the plurality ofgroups of symbols.

In an embodiment, the grouping module is arranged to operate on symbolsof the rule affecting information with symbols of the sequence ofsymbols to obtain a plurality of group size numbers indicative of thenumber of symbols in each of the plurality of groups.

An embodiment comprises a separation module arranged to separate theplurality of groups from a sequence of other symbols within the sequenceof symbols.

An embodiment comprises a rule information determiner arranged todetermine at least one of: the rule information; and at least one of ahint of the position of the rule information and a clue of the positionof the rule information.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged todetermine the rule information from the concealed information.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged to obtainlocation information indicative of the location of the rule informationwithin the concealed information, and retrieve the rule information fromthe concealed information using the rule information determiner.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged to obtainlocation information indicative of the location of the rule informationfrom a source external of the concealed information.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged to obtainthe location information using a URL.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged to obtainthe rule information using logic.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged to obtainthe rule information using at least one of time information and timederived information.

In an embodiment, the rule information determiner is arranged to obtainthe rule information using information derivable from the environment inwhich the decoder operates.

An embodiment is arranged to determine the rule information using filesystem information.

An embodiment comprises a processor comprising the decoder andconfigured to configure the decoder using the rule information. Theprocessor may comprise a rule information determiner configured todetermine the rule information, and the decoder is configurable by theprocessor using the rule information so determined.

Disclosed herein is processor readable tangible media including programinstructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor toperform a method disclosed above.

A computer program for instructing a processor, which when executed bythe processor causes the processor to perform a method disclosed above.

A concealing system wherein the logic comprises fuzzy logic.

A retrieving system wherein the logic comprises fuzzy logic.

Disclosed herein is processor readable tangible media including programinstructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor toperform a method disclosed above.

Disclosed herein is a computer program for instructing a processor,which when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform amethod disclosed above.

Any of the various features of each of the above disclosures, and of thevarious features of the embodiments described below, can be combined assuitable and desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Embodiments will now be described by way of example only with referenceto the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a retrieving systemfor retrieving concealed information.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a concealing systemfor concealing the information

FIG. 3 shows a diagram illustrating the effect of the retrieving system10 on the concealed information one step at a time.

FIGS. 4 to 7 highlight different aspects of FIG. 2 illustrating theoperation of the retrieving system on the concealed information atdifferent stages of the process.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a processor of either one of theretrieving system of FIG. 1 and the concealing system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram illustrating an example of an effect of theconcealing system of FIG. 2 on the information.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a retrieving systemfor retrieving information concealed within a sequence of symbols, thesystem being generally indicated by the numeral 10. As described infurther detail below, in this but not in all embodiments, the retrievingsystem 10 comprises a processor 11 having a microprocessor system andmemory in communication with the microprocessor. The system 10 has aninformation receiver 12 that is arranged to receive the sequence ofsymbols, for example a sequence of electronically coded symbols. In thisbut not necessarily in all embodiments, the concealed information is inthe form of a digital file, or generally any suitable form examples ofwhich include but are not limited to, sources, places, electronicdevices, computer networks, computer media, etc. The concealedinformation may be received via any one of, for example, an opticaldisk, a USB memory stick, and the Internet or any other suitable deviceor system. The information receiver 12 may be, for example, anelectronic information receiver in the form of USB interface, an opticaldisk drive, a network interface in the form of, for example, a networkinterface card, or generally any suitable receiver. In this embodimentthe sequence of symbols are binary digits, but any suitable symbols maybe used, for example decimal digits, letters of the alphabet, Chinesecharacters, and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The retrieving system 10 and corresponding method may be generallyoperated on any concealed information, or part thereof, concealed by,for example, a concealing system 50, a schematic diagram of anembodiment of which is shown in FIG. 2. As described in further detailbelow, in this but not in all embodiments, the concealing systemcomprises a processor 51 having a microprocessor system and memory incommunication with the microprocessor. The concealed information 14(which in this but not necessary in all example is in the form ofconcealed digital data). The system and corresponding method may, in anembodiment, be applied to concealed information 14 as a whole or thedivided parts thereof and the result suitably combined.

FIGS. 3 to 7 show diagrams illustrating the effect of the retrievingsystem 10 on the concealed information 14.

The system 10 comprises a plurality of modules that are generally incommunication with each other. The system 10 has a decoder 16 thatreceives the concealed information 14 from the receiver 12. The decoder16 is configurable using decoder configuration information in the formof rule information and operable when so configured to retrieve theconcealed information by applying to the concealed information at leastone decoder rule determined by the configuration of the encoder. In thisbut not necessarily in all embodiments, the decoder 16 isself-configuring on receipt of the rule information.

The retrieving system 10 has a rule information determiner 18 that isarranged to determine the rule information. The decoder 16 may read therules from a rule registry 17 that is in the form of volatile and/ornonvolatile memory that may be part of the encoder or system 10, forexample. In this example, however, the rule information is within theconcealed data 14, and comprises bits 5 to 14, counting from the left,of the concealed data (that is, the bits having sequence number 5 to 14.The rule information determiner reads the file specification 20 of thefile having the concealed data, which in this case is a string ofsymbols “2404201212”. File specification is an example of file systeminformation. Other examples of file system information that may be usedinclude but are not limited to file name, creation date, modificationdate, file size, file type. The rule information may be a set of datacreated by a mathematical or logical at least one rule. In this but notnecessarily in all embodiments the file specification data string of“2404201212” also is rule information and demonstrates how the ruleaffecting information may be put to use. Generally but not necessarily,the rule affecting information, in embodiments, may be available fromwithin (for example in some specific bit sequence), alongside (forexample in the file specification of the file carrying concealedinformation), or outside the concealed information (for example as at anURL).

In this embodiment, the first four symbols of the file specification 20are indicative of a file creation date (24 April) and the last sixdigits are indicative of a file number (201212). The rule informationdeterminer is governed by a rule that is “the rule information islocated within the received sequence of symbols and commences at the bitjust after the bit with having the same sequence number as the month inthe file creation date”. From that rule, the rule information determiner18 retrieves the location information indicative of the location of therule information within the sequence of symbols. Because the month isApril, which is month 4, the rule information determiner knows that therule information 32 commences at the bit having sequence number 5 (thatis, the fifth bit). The rule determiner has another rule that is “therule information has the same number of digits as the file name.

Further examples of encoder/decoder rules may be found in the appendix.Generally, any suitable at least one rule may be used.

The decoder 16 has a grouping module 22. In this embodiment, thegrouping module 22 is a symbol grouping module in the form of a digitgrouping module that is arranged to group digits from the sequence ofdigits 14 into a plurality of groups of digits including groupsindicated by numerals 24 to 29 and changing the sequence of theplurality of groups of digits. This reverses the group sequence changestep of the concealing process.

The grouping module 22 is arranged to use the rule information asdetermined by the rule information determiner 18 to determine a numberof digits in each of the plurality of groups of digits and which digitsto group. The grouping module uses the rule “a marker symbol sequence isfrom digits 28 to 30”, which returns marker sequence “011” indicated bynumeral 21, and the rule “group the digits after the first repeat of themaker symbol sequence”. Because the first repeat of the marker symbolsequence “011” occurs at bits 36 to 38, from the decoder rule 5 thegrouping module knows that regrouping is to be done only for bits ofencrypted data from digits 39 onwards up to the end of data which inthis example is digit 78. Use of marker symbols in this but notnecessarily all embodiments is for the purpose of obfuscation. Markersymbols may also be effectively used in some embodiments as keys thatcan be exchanged using any suitable key exchange mechanism. Anyobfuscation rule such as the marker rule for example, may be used insome but not necessarily in all embodiments.

Following yet another rule, the grouping module 22 adds each digit ofthe file specification 20 to a corresponding digit of a rule information32 to obtain a clue in the form of sequence “3415211312”, as shown inthe box indicated by numeral 36. The grouping module then sums pairs ofadjacent digits “34”, “15”, “21”, “13”, and “12” to obtain another cluein the form of sequence “76343”. Any suitable rule may be generallyused. The grouping module may be arranged to mathematically or logicallyoperate on symbols of the rule affecting information. For example, thegrouping module then sums pairs of adjacent digits “76343” to obtain“13”, “9”, “7”, and “7” which are operated on modulo 9 to obtain stillanother clue in the form of sequence “4977” in accordance with stillanother rule. This calculation is generally indicated by numeral 38.Each of the digits “4977” represent the number of digits in groups,resulting in six groups indicated by numerals 24, 26, 28, 25, 27 and,29.

The retrieving system 10 has a separation module 34 that is arranged toseparate the plurality of groups from a sequence of digits. Theplurality of groups separable from the sequence of digits may consistsof groups of information to be concealed and other groups of digits.

In this example the other groups of digits include rule informationdigits, marker digits, repeat marker digits and lots 1, 2 and 3 of otherdata. In this example lots 1, 2 and 3 of other data are used in the formof obfuscation bits. In an embodiment, other data may variously carryother useful information such as optional water mark, finger print orerror correction information, for example.

Watermarking may allow the decoder to determine that that the concealedinformation is authentic and not a fake created by, for example, ahacker implementing “a man-in-the-middle-attack”. For example, thedecoder 16 may conclude that all “Other Data Lots 1, 2 and 3 end with abit value ‘1’ and therefore the concealed information is authentic.” Forexample if this is not the case, the decoder may stop its functioning,conclude that the data is not authentic and take no further action, orgenerate an error message or make a “please resend” request to theconcealing system.

Fingerprinting may allow the decoder to determine that the concealedinformation originated from a trusted originator and is not a fakecreated by, for example, a hacker implementing “aman-in-the-middle-attack”. For example, the decoder 16 may conclude thatall “Data Lots 1 and 2 start with a bit whose value is ‘1’ and thereforethe concealed information originated from a trusted originator.” In thiscase, otherwise, the decoder may stop its functioning, conclude that thedata is not authentic and take no further action, or generate an errormessage or make a “please resend” request to the concealing system.

The grouping module then reorders the groups in accordance with anotherrule, in this case the groups “4977 . . . 4977 . . . ” are reordered to“9477 . . . 9477 . . . ”. The digits may then be read as retrievedinformation 40. The decoder 16 may send the retrieved information to aretrieved information sender 42 that may subsequently turn the retrievedinformation 40 into a digital file 44 for transmission or storage ontangible media, or into data packets 44 for transmission over a network,or generally process the information for further use as appropriate.

In some alternative embodiments, the rule information determiner 18 isarranged to obtain location information indicative of the location ofthe rule information from a source external of the concealedinformation. For example, a URL may be used to look up information ongenerally any web site. The looked up information may be used as ruleinformation or as information leading to rule information. The ruleinformation determiner may not know exactly where to look on the website. It may use fuzzy logic, for example “four consecutive digits onthis web page”, and the decoder may subsequently attempt to decode usingevery four consecutive digits until the information is successfullyretrieved. The value of these digits may be different on different days,for example. The decoder may attempt to decode on several days. In anembodiment, the rule information determiner may not know which websiteto look at (for example out of which four possible websites), whichlocation (for example out of which three geographic locations), or forexample at which device (for example a USB or a mobile phone), whichnetwork (for example at a location on an intranet or the internet),using what method (for example through secured log in or without it) orwhat procedure (for example by using trial and error or through workingout additional clues that may be available). Alternately, the decodermay use any website from a group of websites (the group being determinedby, for example, mathematical logic or informal reasoning or from otherrules or clues) and try “four consecutive digits on each page one afterthe other” until the information is successfully decoded.

In another alternative embodiment, the rule information determiner isarranged to obtain the rule information using time information, forexample today's date. In other embodiments, the rule informationdeterminer may be arranged to obtain the rule information usinginformation derivable from the environment in which the decoderoperates, for example the model of the processor, the hard drivecapacity, the operating system number etc. In some other embodiments acomplex array of logical or mathematical rules or nested rules may beused involving one or more of any of the above described elements orsuch others in any logical or mathematical interwoven manner.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a concealingsystem, the system being generally indicated by the numeral 50. Asdescribed in further detail below, in this but not in all embodiments,the concealing system 50 comprises a processor 51 having amicroprocessor system and memory in communication with themicroprocessor. The concealing system 50 may conceal informationcomprising a sequence of symbols that may be subsequently retrievedusing the retrieving system 10. In this example, the symbols are binarydigits but generally any types of symbols may be used.

The concealing system 50 has an information receiver 54 in the form ofan electronic information receiver (which may be for example, a USBinterface, an optical disk drive, a network interface in the form of,for example, a network interface card, or generally any suitablereceiver) that receives the information 52 and sends it to an encoder56. The encoder 56 is configurable using rule information and when soconfigured operable to form concealed information 60 by applying to theinformation at least one encoder rule determined by the configuration ofthe encoder 56. The encoder may have a rule information determiner 64that is arranged to read the rules from a rule registry incorporatedtherein, and subsequently configure itself in accordance with the readrule information. Alternatively, another part of the processor mayconfigure the encoder. The rule registry is in the form of volatileand/or nonvolatile memory that may be part of the encoder, or system 50,for example. The concealed information may be sent by a concealedinformation sender 62 to a tangible computer readable storage media,over a computer network, or to any other suitable module or system. Theinformation sender 62 may comprise a file module for disposing thetransmittable concealed information in a file for subsequenttransmission to the decoder.

The encoder 56 comprises a digit grouping module 58 arranged to groupdigits from the sequence of symbols into a plurality of groups of digitsand changing the sequence of the plurality of groups of digits. Thedigit grouping module 58 is arranged to use the rule information 32 todetermine a number of digits in each of the plurality of groups.

The concealing system may have a joining module 68 arranged to join therule information and the concealed information to form transmittableconcealed information 70 for subsequent transmission 60 via aninformation conduit to the decoder 10 which may be remote from theencoder system 50. The joining module may be arranged to put a sequenceof other digits in the form of other data, for example, as the otherdata Lot 1, Lot 2 and Lot 3, together with the rule information. Theinformation may thus be further concealed using the further information.A file module 67 may be arranged to indicate the location of the ruleinformation in file system information of the file.

The joining module may be arranged to dispose the rule informationwithin the other digits for use by the decoder 10. Such other digits maybe originally intended to be obfuscation/stuffing bits but instead usedfor carrying useful data such as the rule information. The ruleinformation may be concealed by generally any suitable method includingany one or more of mathematical and/or logical method or rules and/orwithin the other digits (which may be used as obfuscation/stuffing bits)as generally it will not be known how the rule information and the otherdigits are relatively disposed. In some embodiments all or part of therule information may not form a part of encrypted data including otherdigits and may instead be separately sent, for example as another datafile or its part and/or part or all of it may be posted on a website ata particular URL and/or geographic location and/or network and/or deviceand/or source by one or more means and/or methods and/or procedures. Insome embodiments the rule information may only be partially madeavailable or further encrypted and/or concealed and then made availableas another data file or its part and/or part or all of it may be postedon a website at a particular URL and/or geographic location and/ornetwork and/or device and/or source by one or more means and/or methodsand/or procedures.

The concealing system 50 may comprise a location information module 66arranged to obtain the location information indicative of the positionof the rule information within the transmittable concealed information.The location information may be provided by the location informationmodule to the encoder. The location information may be obtained fromwithin any other information. For example, the location informationmodule may be arranged to obtain information from a web site indicatedby a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The location information module maybe arranged to obtain the location information using any logical methodsincluding any one or more of fuzzy logic, propositional or predicatelogic, informal reasoning, mathematical logic, computational logic,syllogistic logic, hyposyllogistic logic (having syllogistic value orpurpose without the form) and such others. The location informationmodule may be arranged to derive the location information from timeinformation. The location information module may be arranged to derivethe location from the environment in which the decoder operates, such asthe decoder's processor module. Generally any suitable locationinformation may be used.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram illustrating an example of an effect of theconcealing system 50 of FIG. 2 on the information 52 one step at a time.In this embodiment but not necessarily in all, the encoder 56 isarranged to self-configure using the rule information.

In some embodiments rules may be preloaded or dynamically loaded asdesired in the rule registry 64 and the encoder 56 may use them asdirected or programmed to conceal information 52 suitably. In this butnot necessarily in all embodiments, the rule registry 64 is arranged togenerate rule information that is a string of an arbitrary bit sequence‘1011010100’. In general any suitable string of symbols may be createdand/or used as the rule information and it may have any arbitrary numberof symbols suitable for concealing the information 52. Generally but notnecessarily, a binary string may be used as the rule information.

In this embodiment but not necessarily in all embodiments, ruleaffecting information 20 may also be used. In this embodiment but notnecessarily in all embodiments, the rule registry arbitrarily createsrule affecting information 20 which in this example is a digital stringof symbols “2404201212” where 2404 is the date 24th April and 201212 isthe number of the file in which the final result is to be stored, forexample. That makes “2402201212” the file name in this example.

In some embodiments rule affecting information is effectively used astied keys or multiple keys where for example, the string “2402201212”comes from two parts such as “2402” and 201212”. The two parts may betreated as tied keys and both are required for the concealment andretrieval of the information.

Rule affecting information may provide renewal or freshness to theconcealing process and changing rule information from “2402201212” toanything else will change the concealed information sequence of symbols.

In general any suitable string of symbols may be arbitrarily generatedor used as the rule affecting information and it may have any arbitrarynumber and type of symbols suitable for use in concealing theinformation 52. Generally but not necessarily, a digital string ofsymbols may be used as the rule affecting information.

Following a rule in this but not necessarily in all embodiments, thedigit grouping module adds the string of symbols of the rule information32 which in this case is ‘1011010100’ with the string of symbols of therule affecting information which in this case is “2404201212” to createa clue in the form of sequence “3415211312”, as shown in the boxindicated by numeral 36. Following another rule the grouping module thensums pairs of adjacent digits “34”, “15”, “21”, “13”, and “12” to obtainanother clue in the form of sequence “76343”. Any suitable rule or rulesmay be generally used.

The grouping module then sums pairs of adjacent digits “76343” to obtain“13”, “9”, “7”, and “7” which are operated on modulo 9 to obtain stillanother clue in the form of sequence “4977” in accordance with stillanother rule. This calculation is generally indicated by numeral 38.Each of the digits “4977” represent the number of digits in groups whichare then repeated over all of the information to be concealed, giving astructure of “4977 . . . 4977 . . . ”

Following another rule the grouping module then regroups the sequence ofgroups “4977 . . . 4977 . . . ” as groups “9477 . . . 9477 . . . ”.

From this point, in this example, the grouping module commences actionto conceal information 52 as follows.

First the grouping module divides the information 52 in group sequence“9477 . . . 9477 . . . ” with 9 symbols in the first group, 4 symbols inthe next group and so on, till all information is exhausted. In thiscase it creates six groups of data in the groups of symbols marked bynumerals 26, 24, 28, 25, 29 and 27 in that order.

Then the grouping module rearranges the groups of “9477 . . . 9477 . . .” as “4977 . . . 4977 . . . ” as per the previous rule for regrouping.This results in six groups of symbols indicated by numerals 24, 26, 28,25, 27 and 29 in that order. To further conceal it, a locationinformation module 66 uses an example of a double marker rule “that thisencoded information will be placed in the concealed sequence immediatelyafter second random repeat of a marker” shown by numeral 21. Use ofmarkers in this but not necessarily all embodiments is for the purposeof obfuscation. Markers may also be used in some embodiments as keysthat can be exchanged using any key exchange mechanism. Any obfuscationrule such as the marker rule for example, may be used in some but notnecessarily in all embodiments. The rule registry generates marker ‘011’as well as Other data' lots of arbitrary bits marked Lots 2 and 3 datawhich are grouped together. Then the joining module 68 joins the resultsof the above operations in the following sequence. It first takes theregrouped string consisting of the six groups of symbols indicated bynumerals 24, 26, 28, 25, 27 and 29. It then adds “repeat marker” string‘011’ in front of it, then adds Lot 3 data in front of it, then addsstring ‘O1 Γ, shown by numeral 21, as the “first marker” then adds Lot-2data in front of it. In this example, the joining module then adds therule information string “1011010100” in front of it. Any rule may beused to join the rule information and the concealed information to formtransmittable concealed information. In this and not necessarily in allembodiments the rule information is joined with concealed information toform transmittable concealed information.

Finally, using another rule in this example, the location module decidesthat “the month of April represented by the bits ‘04’ in the ruleaffecting information ‘2404201212’ is to be used as the number ofobfuscation bits to be added in front of the rule information within theconcealed transmittable information”, four obfuscation bits are added infront of the sequence. The four bits are ‘101 1’ marked Lot-1 in thefinal result of the encoder or transmittable concealed informationmarked with numeral 60 in FIG. 5.

In general any number of rules may be used to reorder the repackage theregrouped sequence and any sequencing rules may be used.

The concealed information sequence may be generally made available tothe decoder as required by the application. The concealed informationmay therefore be placed in one or more files by the file module 67. Thefile module is generally able to create a file or files of any suitabletype. The file module then outputs the files to the concealedinformation sender 62. Concealed information sender 62 is arranged totake files and process them suitably to suit their transmission over arange of transmission media (for example, an intranet or internet) usinga range of technology and channeling options. In some embodiments theconcealed information 60 is able to be fragmented in data pieces.

In this but not necessarily in all embodiments, as determined by thelocation information module 66 for determining location of the ruleaffecting information, the concealed information 60 is placed in asingle file and its corresponding rule affecting information 20 is usedby the filing module as the file specification for that file.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of an example architecture of aprocessor 140 (which may be, for example, either one of processor 11 ofFIG. 1 and processor 51 of FIG. 2). The processor can execute the stepsof the methods disclosed herein, for example. The methods may be codedin a program for instructing the processor. The program is, in thisembodiment stored in nonvolatile memory 148 in the form of a hard diskdrive, but could be stored in FLASH, EPROM or any other form of tangiblemedia within or external of the processor. The program generally, butnot necessarily, comprises a plurality of software modules thatcooperate when installed on the processor so that the steps of a methodare performed. The software modules, at least in part, correspond to thesteps of the method or components of the system described above. Thefunctions or components may be compartmentalized into modules or may befragmented across several software modules. For example, in oneembodiment the software has an encoder module and/or a decoder module asappropriate, and a file system module. The software modules may beformed using any suitable language, examples of which include C++ andassembly. The program may take the form of an application programinterface or any other suitable software structure. The processor 140includes a suitable micro processor system 142, examples of whichinclude but are not limited to the INTEL XEON, AMD OPTERON, or aplurality of interconnected microprocessors. The microprocessor systemis connected over a bus 144 to a random access memory 146 of around 1GB, although other values are possible and a non-volatile memory such asa hard disk drive 148 or solid state non-volatile memory having acapacity of around 100 Gb, although other values are possible.Alternative logic devices may be used in place of the microprocessor142. Examples of suitable alternative logic devices includeapplication-specific integrated circuits, FPGAs, and digital signalprocessing units. Some of these embodiments may be entirely hardwarebased for further latency reduction or other reasons. The processor 140has input/output interfaces 150 which may include one or more networkinterfaces, and a universal serial bus. The processor may support ahuman machine interface 152 e.g. mouse, keyboard, display etc.

Alternative and/or Additional Features of Embodiments

The embodiments described above may, but not necessarily, additionallyhave further features detailed below.

In an embodiment, information to be concealed may be in part concealedby this method and in part by this or another method and the resultssuitably combined.

In an embodiment, any permutation and or combination of the features andor steps of this method may be suitably combined.

In an embodiment one or more features of different embodiments may besuitably combined.

In an embodiment the other symbols, digits or bits may be used generallyin the form of obfuscation/stuffing bits may sometimes carry otheruseful data that may be related to the information being concealed, forexample, such as water mark data, finger print data, message numberingdata or obfuscation data.

In an embodiment, a sequence of symbols may be compressed information.

In an embodiment, a sequence of symbols may be encrypted information.

In an embodiment, the sequence of symbols may be concealed information.

In an embodiment rule affecting information, which may be a type of key,may be required by the decoder to retrieve concealed information. Therule affecting information may be exchanged between the encoder and thedecoder using generally any suitable exchange method, for example aknown key exchange method, an example of which is includes but is notlimited to transport of non transient physical media (for example a USBFLASH drive) storing the rule affecting information. One party may speakthe rule affecting information to another.

In an embodiment use of more than one rule affecting information (and/orother data, markers, etc.), which may be a type of multiple keys, may beat least one of tied with each other and tied hierarchically (to creategroup keys). The more than one rule affecting information that are atleast one of tied with each other and tied hierarchically may be used bya group of retrieving system and concealing system users. The users mayuse the tied more than one rule affecting information to retrievetogether as a whole the information that was concealed.

In an embodiment, the rule information may be generated by the decoderand exchanged with the encoder through any suitable rule informationexchange protocol (The any suitable rule information exchange protocolmay but not necessarily be any suitable key exchange protocol). The ruleinformation so exchanged in this way may be used as a key of the user ofthe decoder. The key may be private. This key may then be used by theencoder to encode the message to provide a secured session key forconcealing information within one session.

In some embodiments the rule affecting information may be a key in theform of a string of data, for example a string of symbols. The ruleaffecting information may be received by the decoding system 10 or thedecoder 16 through channels other than those described herein, forexample in the form of a key, or a clue.

In an embodiment, at least one of the concealed information and thetransmittable concealed information and the file containing pieces ofone or the other, may be organized to reach the decoder through aplurality of routes and/or a plurality of transmission processes and/ora plurality of channels and may then be suitably combined before theoperation of the decoder. Before combination, the at least one of theconcealed information and the transmittable concealed information andthe file containing pieces of one or the other may be reprocessed.

In some embodiments the symbol grouping module is arranged to select ordiscard symbols to be grouped and subsequently at least one of groupthem, change the order of groups, change the order of symbols withingroups, rearrange symbols and/or groups, select symbols and/or groups,complete groups by addition of notional symbols where symbols are notsufficient to complete a group if and as required, and do all such othernecessary and/or incidental functions. The symbol grouping module may bearranged to execute any requirement of the rule information or ruleregistry in terms of any of the symbol grouping, regrouping, reordering,selecting, reforming, reformatting, completing, removing, selecting andsuch other manipulating requirements to execute any rules.

In an embodiment, the symbol grouping module may be arranged to operate,for example mathematically, on at least one of symbols, groups, anddigits. The symbol grouping module may be arranged to manipulate the atleast one of symbols, groups, and digits within at least one of ruleinformation, rule affecting information, concealed information otherreceived and intermediate sequences of symbols or digits. In general,the symbol grouping module may be also arranged to at least one of:

-   -   operate, for example mathematically, and/or manipulate, for        example through rearrangement of, one or more of bits, digits,        symbols, groups and strings within one or more of rule        information, rule affecting information, information to be        concealed; other generated and/or calculated and/or operated        and/or processed intermediate symbols, bits, digits; groups,        strings, or sequences of any of these;    -   decide the values and numbers of symbols in a group; select        symbols or groups for particular actions by the encoder based on        any rules; rebuild groups and regroup them;    -   change the order of symbols within groups; and        change the order of groups. Concealed information or rule        information may be retrieved by finding through one or more of:        Sources; Places; Devices; Networks; Means; Methods; Rules;        Procedures; Logical Approaches and/or Methods (including Fuzzy        Logic, Many-Valued-Logic, Probabilistic Logic, Predicate Logic,        Prepositional Logic or such other disciplines of Logic and        Intuitive Logic, Informal Reasoning, Mathematical Logic,        Computations Logic, Syllogistic Logic, Hypo syllogistic Logic        having syllogistic value or purpose without the form, or any        other discipline of logic); Mathematical approaches; Other        approaches (for example psychological or human behavioral or        artificial intelligence approaches); Arrangements such as single        party arrangement, multi-party arrangement, for example, single        key concealing one at a time or simultaneous multiple key        concealing; Medium used such as paper based medium, electronic        medium, physical medium or other medium whatsoever; and pieces        of, or whole of, necessary logical rules and/or mathematical        rules and/or other rules and/or information and/or clues and/or        hints to find or generate or make a key or keys to retrieve the        concealed information.

In some embodiment of the proposed invention the key is either not sentat all or sent right along with the concealed information itself but ina generally unrecognized form or format.

The process of revealing may then work through a range of solutions,depending on the design criteria, on either finding the key from thedata and/or information that is searchable and/or already availableand/or working through a range of data and/or information and/or rule/sand/or approach/es and/or clue/s and/or hint/s to work out the Ways ofmaking and/or generating the key and applying it. Some of theseprocesses may be straightforward and others may involve repeatedlyand/or reiteratively working through one or more of different logicaland mathematical approaches, or other approaches such as humanbehavioral approaches, for example. The method may be, however,generally different from ‘brute force’ approaches in that not allpossible permutations and combinations are tried for every possibleeventuality but rather to work through clues and hints and performingselective and/or preferential trials of what the method determines to bethe candidate solutions and/or approaches based on the solution approachselected and/or data and/or information available and/or searchable.

Embodiments may include the sub-set or option of finding the key/sitself/themselves in which case it/they may be directly used withouthaving to generate it/them.

Embodiments may include the sub-set or option of not requiring the keybut a hint or a clue on the process of retrieving in which case it maybe directly used without the need for a key.

Embodiments may provide a large toolset to choose from for concealmentand retrieving.

Depending on the application, security may arise, for example, from alarge set of all possible options, periodic changes to the tool setbeing used, nesting of different rules for different implementations andthe quality of clues and hints generated by the implementer along withthe control of level of information made available forretrieving—thereby requiring in some cases semi-intelligent and in somecases very intelligent approaches to retrieving. Further complicatingfactors may be added by requiring human or machine (for exampleartificially intelligent machine) interaction at one or more points forexample requiring a password or passphrase or personal unblocking code(pin), for example.

In some embodiment the rule/s and/or clue/s and or hint/s forgenerating/making key/s or concealing/revealing key/s may be sent bymultiple mediums one at a time.

In some embodiments it is possible that not only no key may be sent(separately or otherwise) and no hint or clue may be sent directly andit may be left to cognitive learning means of the decoder or decodingmethod or system to successfully generate the key to retrieve data.

For the systems that rely on the use of a conventional key (for examplekey based mathematical algorithm encryption systems, whether employing asingle key or multiple keys simultaneously or in tandem or sequence),sending the key to retrieve encrypted information may require extensivesecurity and key management. There is a long felt need for a system thatcan generate or find or make its own key without the need for sendingthe key at all in some embodiments or without the need for sending thekey separately in other embodiments. Mathematical encryption may bebroken by brute force approaches that become feasible with increasedcomputing power and quantum computing. Embodiments may provide aneffective alternate for many an concealing and retrieving needs of themodern times.

The rule determiner 18 may be arranged to determine rule information andfrom rule information the rule or rules that the decoder 16 and/orsystem 10 and/or grouping module and/or operations module mayfollow/apply to retrieve concealed information 14. The rule determiner18 may follow any logical and/or mathematical and/or any other rule (forexample scientific rules) and/or be assisted (for example interpretationfrom a software program available to the decoder) and/or procedure (forexample intuitive self-learning procedures) and may employ its own means(for example, artificial intelligence) and/or assisted means (forexample, assisted by software or data sourced from anywhere or generallysuitably assisted) to determine rule information and/or may look forwhole or part of any rule information through any one or more of data,sources, places, devices, networks, means, media or its environment (forexample including rule registry and/or grouping module and/or operationsmodule and/or hardware and/or software that it may be operating with orin conjunction and/or some proximity with including operating systemand/or network and/or any cloud based environment).

Several examples are described below of how the rule informationdeterminer may determine some rules. The list of examples below isexemplary and not exhaustive.

In the simplest of embodiments the rule information determiner maysimply assist decoder 16 to read the rule/s from the rule registry 17and using the rule/s to configure itself (decoder 16) todecrypt/retrieve encrypted information 14 using appropriate functions ofgrouping module 22 and operations module 34 to operate, group andstructure data appropriately in the order dictated by the rule/s fromthe rule registry 17.

In some other embodiment the rule information determiner may find a keyfrom data already available to it (for example a key buried within theencrypted data and the location and/or structure of the key being readfrom rule registry 17), and thereby helping decoder 10 to retrieveconcealed information 14.

In some other embodiments the rule information determiner 18 may haveprior rule information about some rule/s and clue/s about other rule/s.Such prior information or clue may be contained in any data (for exampleencrypted data), any rule (for example in a rule in the rule registry),location (for example at a pre-defined location at a given URL), anysource (for example in a USB), any form (for example in a voicerecording that is able to be read in correct form needed by the decoder)from where the rule determiner may generate/build/retrieve othernecessary rule/s information by applying that rule/s information for thepurpose of retrieving concealed data. If the rule information is in theform of a clue, the rule information determiner may decode the clue (orfind/generate/develop a fitting answer to the clue) to arrive at therequired rule/s information for retrieving. Generation of the fittinganswer, for example, may make use of fuzzy logic and/or any otherdiscipline of logical (for example intuitive logic) or methodicalapproach/es (for example scientific or psychological approach to theproblem of rule determination). The clue and how the clue is dealt withby the rule determiner and its various approaches may provide logicalbounds to the ways of searching for rule information or arriving at ruleinformation, in an embodiment.

In some other embodiments the rule information determiner 18 may haveprior information about some rule/s and no information and no clue/sabout other rule/s. In that case it may progressively develop the rulefor which it has prior information and attempt one after the other anypossible/candidate clues to arrive at other rule/s and may step by stepvalidate or invalidate each rule developed from a possible/candidateclue until the system as a whole determines through an iterative processthat the correct set of rule/s have been generated/built/retrieved bythe rules information determiner and the full rule information is ableto be used to successfully reveal/retrieve/decrypt encrypted data 14. Ifthe rule/s is/are largely known and missing rules and/or clues arerelatively small or easy, the probability of successfulretrieving/decryption may be made fairly high using artificialintelligence, for example.

In yet other embodiments the rule information determiner 18 may have noprior information about any rule/s and no information or clue/s eitherand then it may go on to progressively develop and attempt one after theother any possible rules and clues and may step by step validate orinvalidate each rule developed from every possible clue until the systemas a whole determines through an iterative process that may necessaryand sufficient correct set of rule/s have been generated/built/retrievedby the rules information determiner and the full rule information isable to be used to successfully reveal/retrieve/decrypt encrypted data14. There is no certainty that the decoder may definitely succeed in itsobjective however the probability of success may increase with eachiterative step and the overall process may be helped by intuitiveapproaches in a well-designed system. In this approach the ruleinformation determiner may narrow down its iterative options through useof logical approaches for example, such as use of intuitive logiccombined with behavioral approaches. Once again, how the rule determinertries and/or limits approaches may provide logical bounds to the ways offinding the rule information or in arriving at rule information, in anembodiment.

Rule registry 17 may generally hold and/or be capable of holding pre-setand/or periodically programmable rules and/or rules as determined by therule information determiner 18 from time to time so as to make allnecessary rules available, along with their correct sequence determinedby the rule information determiner 18, to the decoder 16 as a whole ingeneral, and with appropriate aspects of those rules in correct sequencefor grouping module 22 and operations module 34, so as to provide thefull set of rules required for decrypting/retrieving correct data setfrom the encrypted data 14 being received through receiver 12.

What exact process a given rule determiner may go through to determinerules and their sequence of operation may depend on which possiblemethod or system for concealing/encrypting information was applied byembodiments; and how, how much and what information about those rules isavailable, how and where for decrypting/retrieving by the embodiments.

In some embodiments rule information determiner 18 and rules registry 17may be merged as a single functional and/or physical unit. In anembodiment one of more of the discrete blocks shown in FIG. 1 may bemerged together functionally and/or physically and therefore thedescription and functional operation/s used for various blocks here isillustrative only.

The rule information determiner 18 may have prior rule information aboutsome rule/s.

In some embodiments the rule information determiner may have artificialintelligence or the ability to learn and/or recall learning, and/orimprove on/from it, (for example using disciplines of logic).

The rule information determiner may be capable of applying intuitiveand/or fuzzy logic.

FURTHER EXAMPLES Example-1

In this example it is shown how a decoder may use one method of logic towork out how to decode using logical approach.

In this example a decoder requires some additional information before itmay decode. The required information may be any one of rule informationor rule affecting information or a marker.

In this example the decoder is able to look into the rule registry andfrom there it determines that based on a stored rule the missinginformation has to have three symbols.

The rule registry in this embodiment is able to generate symbols, forexample. It knows that the symbols could be any symbols however itdecides to try binary symbols first. So it decides to work through allpossible combinations of the three binary symbols sequences which are000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110 and 111. It tries them one after theother and tries to decode and becomes successful in decoding when thesequence is 011. In this method of logic, it concluded that digitalsymbols were more likely and it succeeded. This method of intuitivelogic to work out, for example, rule information or rule affectinginformation, or missing parts thereof, in some embodiments may be usedto work as “key-less” and/or “key-exchange less” methods of concealmentand retrieval. Other embodiments may variously use other types of logicfor example, syllogistic logic, hyposyllogistic logic, multi-valuedlogic, fuzzy logic, predicate logic, probabilistic logic, propositionallogic, informal reasoning and such others. Depending on the overallintelligence of the system and methods, a whole range of usable methodsmay be implemented in various embodiments. This is one of the biggestadvantages of this invention in all its possible applications.

Example-2

Let it be assumed that in the above example the symbols were digits. Nowthe rule registry will have too many options to work through. So itdecides to ask for a clue. The encoder then sends a clue which is in theform of a picture of a square, a picture of a triangle and a questionmark in a sequence.

Now the rule registry rightly or wrongly concludes mat a squarerepresents a digit of 4, the triangle a digit of 3 and the question markmeans the last digit is unclear. The rule registry then decides to trythat. This time it decides to try the third place symbol as a digit anddecides to try from middle of the scale. Therefore it tries 5 first. Inthis case that does not work out so it decides to try in the order of6,7,8, 9 and then 1, 0, 2, 3, 4. It tries that and when the valuereaches 8, it is able to decode. This method of using logic to work out,for example, rule information or rule affecting information provides forsyllogistic and other logic based approaches for concealment and orretrieval.

In this way, though there was no certainly of the clue giving thecorrect or even a possible answer, the decoder was able to employ alogical method to work out the correct information required to decodethe concealed information.

A number of logical approaches exist and a well designed system may inthis way reduce the number of attempts required to retrieve concealedinformation in a meaningful way. Clues and hints allow this process tobe somewhat simplified for intelligent retrieval system or intelligentdecoder. The main difference in this approach and the normal challengeresponse systems is that the encoder has not previously asked theinformation to be used that it will use for clue or hint or even fordeciding how and what information should be missing. It could, it maynot need to for this purpose. Depending on the overall intelligence ofthe system and methods, a whole range of usable methods may beimplemented in various embodiments. This is one of the biggestadvantages of this invention in all its possible applications.

Example-3

In the Example-1 above, if the digital symbols were not able to producedesired result, for example, the retrieval system or the decoder maylook out for what the overall context was. For example, if the symbolswere all Chinese characters, it may have concluded that the threesymbols were Chinese as Well. This may have worked out in correctdecoding particularly if the clue and hint method of Example 2 were usedto limit the scope of all searches. In this way, intelligent systems invarious embodiments can use contextual intelligence in applying logicdisciplines such as syllogistic logic.

Now that embodiments have been described, it will be appreciated thatsome embodiments may have some of the following advantages:

-   -   No key may need to be sent separately. Only rules and/or clues        about the rule information (for example the location of clue or        the rule or both) may be sent. In some embodiments only part        rule information may be sent or made available and in others        none may be sent or made available depending on logical        approaches used.    -   The logical nestings of separate logic interwoven with high        probabilistic simple mathematical and/or logical events may make        the concealing harder to break than some key-based encryption        techniques.    -   The vast number of possible rules and their varied nature may        make the concealing difficult to break. When combined with        nesting with different rules and the addition of meaningless        data the complexity levels for encryption may be made as high as        desired while keeping both encoding and decoding elegant and        relatively simple compared to complex mathematical algorithms or        public and private key systems.    -   Every concealed file may be different.    -   Embodiments of the above disclosed systems and methods may meet        the security needs of some artificial intelligent systems which        may be able to exploit not only mathematical but a variety of        logical, arbitrary rule based approaches available for        concealment and retrieval. The word logic here includes        disciplines of logic, such as for example, fuzzy logic,        predictive logic, syllogistic logic, etc.    -   Embodiments of the above disclosed systems and methods may be        particularly suitable for the era of high powered, fast        computers which may break into any purely mathematical        concealment system with brute force decrypting and information        retrieval.

Variations and/or modifications may be made to the embodiments describedwithout departing from the spirit or ambit of the invention. The presentembodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive.

Prior art, if any, described herein is not to be taken as an admissionthat the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in anyjurisdiction.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of theinvention, except where the context requires otherwise due to expresslanguage or necessary implication, the word

“comprise” or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising” is used inan inclusive sense, that is to specify the presence of the statedfeatures but not to preclude the presence or addition of furtherfeatures in various embodiments of the invention.

APPENDIX

Some non limiting examples of rules for the decoder now follow.

RULE-1

“File specification consists of 10 bits where the first four bits of thespecification are the file creation date expressed as date digits foliowed by month digits and the last six bits are the file number”.

(The first four bits of the file specification 20 are the file creationdate 24 April written as 2404 and the last six bits are the file number201212. The file specification then becomes the file creation datefollowed by the file number as 2404201212).

RULE-2

“The rule information is located within the encrypted information andcommences at the bit just after the bit with the same serial number asthe month in the file creation date”.

(Because the month is April (04), the rule information determiner knowsthat the rule information 32 commences at the fifth bit of the encrypteddata).

(The first four bits become other bits as per Rule 9 below).

RULE-3

“The rule information has the same number of bits as the filespecification”.

(As the file specification 20 is 10 bits long, from Rule 1, 2 and 3 therule information determiner concludes that the rule information iswithin the encrypted data 14, and comprises bits 5 to 14, counting fromthe left, of the encrypted data. Therefore rule information 32 is‘1011010100’).

RULE-4

“A marker symbol sequence is from bits 28 to 30 of the encryptedsequence”.

(Bits 28 to 30 return marker sequence “011” indicated by numeral 21).

RULE-5

“Grouping module to apply Rules 7 and 8 only to the encrypted data bitsjust after the first repeat of the marker symbol sequence that is foundbeyond the last bit of marker in RULE-4”.

(Look for marker repeat after bit 30 because the last marker bit as perRULE-4 is bit 30. The first repeat of the marker “0H” occurs at bits 36to 38. Therefore the grouping module knows that grouping as per RULE-7is to be done only for bits of encrypted data between bits 39 and theend of encrypted data bit 78.)

RULE-6

“Make a Modulo-9 addition of File Specification 20 (which is 2404201212)and Rule Information 32 (which is 1011010100). Take the result and addits two consecutive bits Modulo 9 again. The result is Grouping SequenceA”.

(The grouping module 22 adds each digit of the file name to acorresponding digit of the rule information 32 to obtain a clue in theform of sequence “3415211312”, as shown in the box indicated by numeral36. The grouping module then sums pairs of adjacent bits “34”, “15”,“21”, “13”, and “12” to obtain sequence “7,6,3,4,3” as sequence A forthis embodiment.)

RULE-7

“Make a Modulo-9 addition of every two consecutive bits from the resultof Grouping Sequence A. This gives Grouping Sequence B. Organizeencrypted data bits as per Rule-5 into groups such that the number ofbits in each sequential group is the same as number in Sequence B”.

(The grouping module sums pairs of adjacent bits “7,6,3,4,3” Modulo-9 toobtain the sequence “4,9,7,7” as shown here by numeral 38. Each of thebits “4,9,7,7” represent the number of bits of encrypted data that areto be grouped together. The result of Rule 5 shows that encrypted datagrouping must begin only at bit 39 onwards and go on until the last bit78. The resulting grouping gives six groups only (as shown by numerals24, 26, and 28, 25, 27 and 29 for this embodiment because after that allencrypted data is exhausted).

RULE-8

“Swap the first and the second groups of data for all repeats ofGrouping Sequence B applied as per RULE-7. The new data sequence thatresults gives the retrieved information 40”.

(The grouping module reorders in this case the groups of bits from‘4,9,7,7’ to ‘9,4,7,7’. To do that, the grouping module reorders allcontent of group represented by ‘9’ to be at the front of all contentsof group represented by ‘4’ for all repeats of the Sequence B. Theresult is the new sequence shown in 40 and that is the retrievedinformation.).

RULE-9

“Any bits of encrypted data that have not been used as file informationor rule information or marker or repeat marker or regrouped bitscorresponding to retrieved data are called “other data”. They are therein the first place to provide syntax to the encrypted data”.

RULE-10

“All bits of “other data” may be collated and regrouped to be utilizedfor any purpose, such as watermark, further rules, further syntextualinformation, redundancy, error detection, error correction, errorcontrol, error display, any nesting information or any other informationwhatsoever”.

(Other data are therefore sequentially grouped together and may then befurther processed to provide any of the functions listed under RULE-10above or any other function through more Rule/s).

Some non limiting examples of rules for the encoder now follow.

RULE-1

“Create a six bit file number consisting of any digits from 1 to 9.Create four bit date data for the file creation date as date digitsfollowed by month digits. File specification may then be the date datafollowed by the file number. Use this specification (for example as filenumber and date) to save the file of encrypted data produced as perRULE-11”.

(Create file number, for example, as 201212. Create date data, forexample 24 April as 2404. The file specification then is the filecreation date followed by the file number: 2404201212. Encrypted datacoming from RULE-12 is saved with this file specification and thereforeits file number will be 201212 and its file creation date will be2404.).

RULE-2

“At will, create rule information bits for decoder using only T and ‘0’digits. The number of bits in the rule information must be the samenumber of bits as in the file specification.”

(Create rule information 32 of ten digits, for example as,‘1011010100’).

RULE-3

“The rule information is to be placed within the encrypted informationand its placement commences at the bit just after the bit with the sameserial number as the month in the file creation date”.

(Because the month is April (04), placement of the rule information 32commences at the bit with serial number 5, that is, the fifth bit ofencrypted data. Under Rule-2, rule information has ten digits. Thereforethe rule information 32 is to be placed within bits with serial numbers5 to 14.)

RULE-4

“Create obfuscation bits using only digits ‘1’ and ‘0’ to fill up anyspaces before RULE-3 data placement”.

(Artificially create four obfuscation bits, for example, ‘1, 0, 1, 1’ tofill up four places before RULE-3 location or before the fifth bit ofthe encrypted data.).

RULE-5

“Artificially create and place a marker symbol sequence at digits 28 to30 of the encrypted sequence. Repeat this marker sequence after somenumber of bits again.”

(Create a marker sequence, for example as ‘0, 1, 1’ for bits serialnumbers 28 to 30. Repeat this marker sequence, for example, for bitsserial number 36-38 which also will now have bits ‘0,1,1’).

RULE-6

“Create obfuscation bits using only ‘1’ and ‘0’ to fill up any spacesbetween RULE-3 and RULE-5 data. Similarly create obfuscation bits usingonly digits ‘1’ and ‘0’ to fill up any spaces between Marker and Repeatof Marker in RULE-5”.

(Artificially create, for example, bits ‘1,0,1,0,0,0,1,0,1,0,0,0,1’ tofill up all empty places between RULE-3 and RULE-5 data placements.Therefore in this case obfuscation data will fit in bits with serialnumbers 15 to 27, both inclusive. Similarly create, for example, bits‘0,1,0,0,1’ to fill up five spaces serial number 31-35 both inclusivebetween Marker and the Repeat Marker.)

RULE-7

“Make a Modulo-9 addition of File Specification 20 (which is 2404201212)and Rule Information 32 (which is 1011010100). Take the result and addits two consecutive bits Modulo 9. The result is then Grouping SequenceA”.

(The grouping module 22 adds each digit of the file specification to acorresponding digit of the rule information 32 to obtain a clue in theform of sequence “3415211312”, as shown in the box indicated by numeral36. The grouping module then sums pairs of adjacent digits “34”, “15”,“21”, “13”, and “12” to obtain sequence “7,6,3,4,3” as sequence A.)

RULE-8

“Make a Modulo-9 addition of every two consecutive bits from the resultof Grouping Sequence A. This gives Grouping Sequence B”.

(The grouping module sums pairs of adjacent digits “7,6,3,4,3” Modulo-9to obtain the sequence “4,9,7,7” as shown here by numeral 38.).

RULE-9

“Swap the first and the second groups of Grouping Sequence B from theresult and that now gives the Grouping Sequence C. Grouping module isnow to group all incoming data to be as per Grouping Sequence C andrepeat Sequence C until all incoming data is exhausted”.

(Swapping the first and second group of Grouping Sequence B which is4,9,7,7, now gives Grouping Sequence C which becomes 9,4,7,7. Repeatingit till all data is exhausted makes six groups of all incoming data asfollows . . . . Groups of 9,4,7,7,9,4 bit groups.)

RULE-10

“From the data organized by RULE-9 shift all the bits representing thesecond group to come in front of all the bits representing thecorresponding first group while keeping all the rest of the sequence asis. Do this for all of the second groups bits and all of the firstgroups bits for each repeat of Sequence C in Rule-9.”

(The grouping module reorders all bits representing Group ‘4’ to come atthe front of all bits representing Group ‘9’ in Grouping Sequence C.This is done for each repeat of Sequence.

The resulting grouping gives three groups only as shown by numerals 24,26, and 28 for this embodiment because after that the incoming data isexhausted.)

RULE-11

“The encrypted data sequence is now to be created as follows by the DataJoiner Module.

First place all bits from RULE-4. Then place all bits from RULE-3. Thenplace all the bits from RULE-6 and RULE-5 bits in correct sequence. Thenplace all bits from RULE-10. The resulting bit stream is the encrypteddata”.

(The encrypted data sequence is created by Data Joiner Module asfollows.

First four bits are obfuscation bits from RULE-4. Bits 5-14 containingrule information from RULE-3. Then obfuscation bits 15-27 from RULE-6,bits 28-30 containing marker from RULE-5, obfuscation bits 31-35 fromRULE-6 and bits 36-38 containing repeat marker from RULE-5. Then dataorganised as per RULE-10 for all remaining bits 39 to 78. The fullsequence now represents encrypted data.)

RULE-12

“The encrypted data may be exported as a file whose file specificationis as per Rule 1”.

(The encrypted data file is now saved as per file name, date andspecification as per Rule 1).

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for retrieving informationconcealed within a sequence of symbols, the method comprising the stepsof: a retrieving system, the retrieving system comprising a physicalnetwork interface in communication with the internet and a decoder,obtaining location information obtained using a Uniform Resource Locator(URL); the retrieving system obtaining rule information from a locationindicated by the location information, the rule information beingindicative of a rule for retrieving a discarded plurality of symbols;the retrieving system using the rule information obtained to configurethe decoder; and the decoder retrieving the information concealed withinthe sequence of symbols by applying to the sequence of symbols at leastone decoder rule determined by the configuration of the encoder.
 2. Themethod defined by claim 1, comprising the step of operating the decoderon the sequence of symbols to retrieve the information within thesequence of symbols.
 3. The method defined by claim 1, wherein the stepof applying the at least one decoder rule comprises the step of groupingsymbols from the sequence of symbols into a plurality of groups ofsymbols and changing the sequence of the plurality of groups of symbols.4. The method defined by claim 3, comprising the step of using the ruleinformation to determine a number of symbols in each of the plurality ofgroups of symbols.
 5. The method defined by claim 4, wherein the step ofusing the rule information comprises the step of operating on symbols ofthe rule affecting information, to obtain a plurality of group sizenumbers indicative of the number of symbols in each of the plurality ofgroups.
 6. The method defined by claim 5, comprising the step ofseparating the plurality of groups from a sequence of other symbolswithin the sequence of symbols.
 7. A retrieving system for retrievinginformation concealed within a sequence of symbols, the systemcomprising: a physical network interface in communication with theInternet; a rule information determiner arranged to obtain ruleinformation from a web site indicated by a URL and configured to obtainrule information from a location indicated by the location information,the rule information being indicative of a rule for retrieving adiscarded plurality of symbols; a processer comprising a decoderconfigurable using the rule information, the processor being configuredto configure the decoder using the rule information to retrieve theinformation concealed within the sequence of symbols by applying to thesequence of symbols at least one decoder rule determined by theconfiguration of the encoder.
 8. The retrieving system defined by claim7, comprising a grouping module arranged to group symbols from thesequence of symbols into a plurality of groups of symbols and changingthe sequence of the plurality of groups of symbols.
 9. The retrievingsystem defined by claim 8, wherein the grouping module is arranged touse the rule information to determine a number of symbols in each of theplurality of groups of symbols.
 10. The retrieving system defined byclaim 9, wherein the grouping module is arranged to operate on symbolsof the rule affecting information with symbols of the sequence ofsymbols to obtain a plurality of group size numbers indicative of thenumber of symbols in each of the plurality of groups.
 11. The retrievingsystem defined by claim 10, comprising a separation module arranged toseparate the plurality of groups from a sequence of other symbols withinthe sequence of symbols.
 12. Processor readable non-transitory, tangiblemedia including program instructions which when executed by a processorcauses the processor to perform a method for retrieving informationconcealed within a sequence of symbols, the method comprising the stepsof: a retrieving system, the retrieving system comprising a physicalnetwork interface in communication with the internet and a decoder,obtaining location information obtained using a Uniform Resource Locator(URL); the retrieving system obtaining rule information from a locationindicated by the location information, the rule information beingindicative of a rule for retrieving a discarded plurality of symbols;the retrieving system using the rule information obtained to configurethe decoder; and the decoder retrieving the information concealed withinthe sequence of symbols by applying to the sequence of symbols at leastone decoder rule determined by the configuration of the encoder.
 13. Acomputer program product stored in a computer readable non-transitorymedium for instructing a processor, which when executed by the processorcauses the processor to perform a method for retrieving informationconcealed within a sequence of symbols, the method comprising the stepsof: obtaining location information obtained using a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) from a retrieving system, the retrieving system comprisinga physical network interface in communication with the internet and adecoder; obtaining rule information from the retrieving system from alocation indicated by the location information, the rule informationbeing indicative of a rule for retrieving a discarded plurality ofsymbols; configuring the decoder using the rule information obtainedfrom the retrieving system; and retrieving the information concealedwithin the sequence of symbols by applying to the sequence of symbols atleast one decoder rule determined by the configuration of the encoder.